So-called mixed pots, containers and hanging baskets, that is to say cultivation vessels for the consumer which are planted with different varieties of a plant species or alternatively with different plant species, have recently gained considerable market significance. Typically, such products are produced by cultivating individual young plants of the different varieties or species separately and then planting them together in a cultivation vessel (pot, container, hanging basket, etc.). The young plants are conventionally cultivated by sowing or by planting out an unrooted cutting in a propagation pot suitable for the cultivation of young plants, which can be, for example, a pot made of nonwoven material (also referred to as a paper pot), a so-called Jiffypot® or a so-called Preforma® pot. A pot made of nonwoven material is a substantially hollow cylindrical container made of a fleece-like nonwoven paper material which receives the substrate material used to cultivate the young plant. A Jiffypot® consists of dried, compressed peat enclosed by a biodegradable net. It swells when water is added and thus acquires its actual shape. A Preforma® pot is a compressed structure formed of the substrate material, for example peat, and an organic adhesive, which is able to receive the seed or cutting directly. Pots made of nonwoven material, Jiffypot® pots or Preforma® pots do not themselves have sufficient stability and must therefore be placed in a growing container which permits safe handling of the pots made of nonwoven material, Jiffypot® pots or Preforma® pots provided with seeds or cuttings and allows the water necessary for cultivation and, where appropriate, nutrient liquids etc. to be supplied to the substrate material. A cultivation tray contains a large number of such growing containers, which are also called cells, and permits efficient handling of all the propagation pots contained in the growing containers.
In order to produce mixed pots, containers and hanging baskets, different desired young plants cultivated as described above must be planted together in the cultivation vessel intended for sale, e.g. a pot, container or hanging basket, which is conventionally carried out by a finished product producer. The planting of the different desired young plants in a pot or the like clearly represents a considerable complexity in terms of logistics and organisation. There is also a considerable risk that the correct young plants will not always be planted in a pot.
As an alternative, it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 7,891,134 B2 entitled Method of Producing a Horticultural Display issued to Wismans to root cuttings of different varieties and/or species together in a single propagation pot. The fundamental advantage of this method is that it saves a considerable amount of work for the finished product producer and avoids the occurrence of errors when desired young plants are subsequently planted together as described above. It is a disadvantage, however, that it is possible to root together only cuttings of varieties or species that have at least approximately the same cultivation needs in terms of temperature, water supply, substrate material, etc. during rooting and that additionally exhibit the same or at least similar growth characteristics.